The Threepenny Opera: Act 3, Scene 3 Summary & Analysis

At five the next morning, as the city bells ring outside, Constable Smith and his men bring Macheath into a cell to await hanging. Smith flings Macheath in the cell, telling him to act like a man in his final hours—when the six o’clock bells ring, Macheath will be hung. Another constable reports that rumor of Macheath’s apprehension—and execution—have spread throughout London. Crowds are already forming, and at the rate they’re growing, there will be more people at Macheath’s hanging than at the coronation.

As Smith shuts Macheath in his cell, Tiger Brown enters. Smith asks if Brown would like to see Macheath, but Brown says he can’t bear to, and quickly leaves again. Macheath begins accusing Smith of having taken a bribe to kill him—Macheath promises that if Smith releases him, Macheath will get the man a thousand pounds by noon. Smith accuses Macheath of talking nonsense and retreats to the side of the stage—Macheath calls to him, begging him to let in any visitors who want to come see him. Macheath then sings a short song lamenting that he has been struck down by “angry Fate’s decree.” He prays that his friends will lend him their aid while he’s still alive to receive it.

Money Matthew and Hook-finger Jacob enter the hall. Smith stops them from approaching Macheath’s cell. Matthew physically threatens Smith. Smith, intimidated, lets the men pass. Macheath asks the men if they can rustle up 400 pounds within the hour. The men tell Macheath that after laundering all the money away, hardly any is left. Macheath accuses the men of making excuses. Matthew reminds Macheath that he’s only back in prison because he sought the company of Suky Tawdry rather than getting out of town. Macheath angrily orders the men to go get the money, warning them that if they’re not back by five minutes to six, he’ll hang. The men say they’ll do their best to beat the gathering crowds.

Constable Smith comes in to ask Macheath what he’d like for his last breakfast. Macheath asks for asparagus, and says he wants to speak to Tiger Brown. A constable enters and tells Smith that there’s trouble with the gallows. Smith follows him out to go have a look at it. Macheath sings another lament, wishing someone would go to the Queen on his behalf in his hour of need.

As the song finishes, Polly enters. Smith reappears and tells Polly that she is sixteenth in the queue of people waiting to see Macheath and must wait her turn. Polly insists that as Macheath’s wife, she deserves more time with him. Smith agrees to let her stay. begins asking Macheath questions about his life, trying to learn all she can about him in his final moments. Macheath asks Polly if she can help him out with money—Polly reiterates that she sent all the money away as part of the laundering scheme, but says she wishes she could go to “the Queen herself” and get it. Polly breaks down in tears, and Smith pulls her away from the cell and sends her out of the hall. Another constable brings Macheath some asparagus on a plate. Brown and Smith reenter and carry the plate and a small dining table into Macheath’s cell. Smith leaves, and Brown and Macheath are alone.

Brown tries to talk to Macheath, but Macheath is cold toward his friend as he eats his final meal. Macheath asks Brown if they can settle their accounts so he can see what he owes the man in bribery money. As Brown produces a notebook, the sounds of Smith and his men securing the gallows can be heard. Brown enumerates the moneys due—and Macheath becomes angry that his boyhood friend would actually try to get money out of him at such a time, even though Macheath was the one who wanted to have a conversation about debts. Eventually, he deduces that he owes Brown thirty-eight pounds.

Brown breaks down in sobs, lamenting that after a “life-time together,” he and his friend are at last being forced to part. Macheath is upset, too—after three years of fighting alongside Brown in India and five years of scheming together in London, he can’t believe hanging is the “thanks” he receives. He sings briefly about being betrayed by Brown. Brown, upset, accuses Macheath of attacking his “honor.” He leaves the cell and calls for Smith to begin the execution.

Smith enters and whispers to Macheath that there’s still time—if he’s got the money. Macheath says that his thugs haven’t returned with it. Smith decides to go through with the execution. He admits the audience for the hanging: Peachum, Polly, Lucy, the whores, Reverend Kimball, as well as Matthew and Jacob. Peachum begins speaking to Macheath, lamenting that though he is the man’s father-in-law, they are meeting for the first time on the occasion of Macheath’s hanging. Polly begins sobbing. Matthew and Jacob tell Macheath that though they tried to get the money, they couldn’t push through the crowds. Macheath asks if his men are positioned to earn well today—Matthew and Jacob say they are, and Macheath seems satisfied. Mrs. Peachum, Tiger Brown, and Ginny Jenny all approach the cell, too, lamenting that Macheath has to die.

As the bells strike six, Smith eagerly orders Macheath out of the cell. As Macheath emerges, he addresses the gathered group. He tells them that they are about to see “the vanishing representative of a vanishing class.” He declares that next to bankers, corporations, and capitalism, simple theft and murder are nothing—implying that the institutions of the rich are far more deadly and evil than common criminals. He thanks the crowd for coming and says he’s been close to many of them in life—but makes a final dig at Jenny by calling her out for giving him up to the police. Macheath ends his speech my saying that though his fall has at last arrived, he’s ready for it.

Macheath then steps forward to sing a song—“The Ballad In Which Macheath Begs Pardon of All.” In the dirge-like song, he begs those who are gathered not to “harden [the]r hearts” against criminals and to not be, “as the Law [is]” to them, unkind. He describes the grisly death he’ll face as he hangs from the neck, pointing out how outsized his punishment is compared to his crimes. Macheath declares that wenches, urchins, outlaws, bandits, burglars, gunmen, abortionists, and pimps, are all deserving of mercy—but “coppers—sons of bitches—” who have made life miserable for Macheath, are not. Still, he decides that on this day—the day of his fall—he’ll beg mercy for them, too. Macheath attempts to apologize to Polly and Lucy, but Smith leads him off to the gallows.

The whole group proceeds to the gallows. As Macheath stands upon the platform, Peachum speaks. He declares that while Macheath’s fate proves that nothing in life is “granted,” Macheath will actually not be hanged today. This is an opera, after all. Peachum predicts that a royal messenger will soon arrive with good tidings. Sure enough, a royal messenger enters as “The Third Threepenny-Finale” begins. The messenger is none other than Brown, who reads a dictum from the Queen herself that commands Macheath’s release. Everyone cheers. What’s more, the message reads, Macheath is to be made a nobleman and given a castle and ten thousand pounds a year for life. Macheath and Polly rejoice.

Peachum speaks once more. He asks everyone to sing “the chorale of the poorest of the poor”—whose end, in contrast with what has been shown on stage today, is “generally bad.” There are not mounted messengers from the Queen herself for everyone, and if one tries to defend oneself, there are often consequences. Therefore, Peachum declares, one should “never be too eager to combat injustice.” The entire company walks forward and sings together. They warn the audience to “combat injustice but in moderation,” and to remember that life on earth is a “vale of tribulation” that is black, cold, lonely, and bleak.